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Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Alpha & Omega

*Cosmologically speaking, "must there" be a beginning and an ending?  [I'm not seeking religious debate or discussion btw -- although if it comes into play, que sara sara].

We (or most of us it seems) are so used to up/down -- left/right -- beginning/ending orientations, that I wonder how involved (or "lost") in diametrically-opposed scenarios we've become without realizing it.

Linear time versus cyclical time versus...other?  Could there be "other" besides linear or cyclical?

Which leads back to the original question.  Is there a beginning to It All and will there be an end to It All? 

Cosmologically speaking.

?

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Cobra Commander

Member

From: The outskirts of Detroit.

Registered: 2002-04-09

Posts: 3,039

Re: Alpha & Omega

Which leads back to the original question.  Is there a beginning to It All and will there be an end to It All?

Yes and no, depnding on how one defines "beginning" and "end".   

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Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Alpha & Omega

Which leads back to the original question.  Is there a beginning to It All and will there be an end to It All?

Yes and no, depnding on how one defines "beginning" and "end".   

*Cobra opts for being coy.  Okay.  :;):

Explanation?  Elucidation?  Incarceration?  Whoops...the latter not applicable ( :hm: ).  Maybe.

???

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Cobra Commander

Member

From: The outskirts of Detroit.

Registered: 2002-04-09

Posts: 3,039

Re: Alpha & Omega

Explanation?  Elucidation?  Incarceration?  Whoops...the latter not applicable ( :hm: ).  Maybe.

Actually I missed something, it really depends on what the definition of "it" is.

Seriously. If we mean this universe that we exist in right now then by all evidence it had a "beginning" and will at some indefinate point in the future have an end. But then for some reason I find the idea that ours is the only universe that ever has or ever will exist to be improbable. I can't back it up, it's just a general sense backed up by a hint of reason. I certainly wouldn't presume to know the secrets of all existence.

If ours is just one universe of many, then "It All" comprises realities beyond our understanding, possibly beyond our capacity for understanding, though I find this somewhat unlikely. Uncomfortable at least.

So we're left trying to define something that we have no real understanding off. It's like a microbe living inside a tire and trying to determine the true nature of the car, the factory it's in and the city surrounding it, never mind that it's but a tiny spot on a planet, on and on.

Odd analogy ???, but adequate I suppose.

So if "It All" is the framework in which everything else happens, the birth and death of universes and so on, then it goes on unless replaced by "nothing". But then any definiion one can conceive of "nothing" is in fact "something" so... there we are.

That's probably enough talking in circles for now.

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Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.

BWhite

Member

From: Chicago, Illinois

Registered: 2004-06-16

Posts: 2,635

Re: Alpha & Omega

Assume the possibility of the "multi-verse" and Cobra is exactly right. 

= = =

If what "it" is is subject to legtimate nuance then what "is" is is perhaps subject to even more legitimate nuance.

Edited By BWhite on 1109449816

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Give someone a sufficient [b][i]why[/i][/b] and they can endure just about any [b][i]how[/i][/b]